Salmon Days

The Issaquah Salmon Days Festival, presented by the Issaquah Chamber of Commerce, is the annual celebration of the returning salmon to our lakes, streams and downtown hatchery. This two day event held annually the first full weekend in October draws crowds of more than 150,000 people. Salmon Days features a weekend full of salmon and free fun, including more than 300 artists, the Foods of the World (50+ food vendors in Depot Park), a Grande Parade, 5k and 10k runs, four stages of live entertainment, the Field of Fun (tons of great kids activities), salmon viewing at the Hatchery, and much more.

Salmon Days prides itself in being an event the entire community can benefit from and enjoy. As a result, the Festival partners with more than 60 local non-profits operating out of, or significantly impacting Issaquah. They are on-site raising awareness, operating pay parking lots to raise funds or featuring activities that raise both.

The Kiwanis Salmon Bake -- yum. For 35 years (as old as the Festival itself) the "world famous" Kiwanis Salmon Bake has enticed festival goers with the wafting smells of fresh fish grilling on an open flame. As the Festival has grown so has the amount of mouth-watering salmon served, now totaling over 2,000 pounds each year. Located at Gibson Park on Newport Way, the feast is just a short walk from the hatchery. The first fillets come off the grill around 11:30am on both Saturday and Sunday.

Sounds like fun, right? And the weather is supposed to be great this year. Not like the pouring rain, thunder storms and what looked like a funnel cloud! hovering over us last year. My booth is located on W Sunset Way, a beautiful corner spot just at the entrance to the Hatchery and the Salmon Bake.

Come early because traffic and parking can be frustrating at the peak of the day. Check HERE for all the information about parking lots and shuttles.

Dates: Saturday and Sunday, October 7 and 8
Hours: 10am to 6pm
Soapworks Studio Booth: #318, W Sunset Way, corner spot at the driveway entrance to the Hatchery and the Kiwanis Salmon Bake

Link: Issaquah Salmon Days

I've got a lot of my stuff packaged up and packed up . . . mostly ready to go. So I think I might actually have a couple of free hours today to do a little gardening. Happy happy joy joy. I really want to chop out a couple of huge, overgrown, ugly, bushy things. Work up a sweat.